Advice On Buying 1St Car - Budget Below 1.3 Million

[Zaffy]

Hi guys,

I know there are loads of threads regarding queries and advises on choosing a new car, or choosing between an Indian new one or a used Japanese.

These threads are quite old and my problems are a bit complicated, so thought of seeking expert opinion of you guys

1. I plan to buy the car with a leasing package and hope to use the car for at least 3 - 5 years..

2. I have zero technical knowledge regarding cars/ vehicles as I have never driven one before.

3. Since I am going for leasing, I don't want to be spending much and frequently on the maintenance / repairs of the vehicle, hence I am reluctant to go for a car which is too old..

4. Need to travel 25-30 km daily, hence fuel efficiency is also important.

5. Budget - 1.1 -1.3 million

Please suggest a good option for me considering the above factors.

I like the new Maruti Alto 800 too, though it is priced at 1.42 million, I can go for it since its a brand new vehicle ( lease rentals would also be a little low )

I also gave a thought about the Hyundai Accent - auto, which I heard from a friend is a decent car + the price is very good for an automatic car.

Also, Kia Rio - Auto seems good for that price

But complicated in selecting options above or some other option, which seems bleak at this stage

Please suggest. Thanks in advance

Cheers!

Edited February 26, 2015 by Zaffy

[sathyajithj99]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="The Don" data-cid="273996" data-time="1425988644"><p>

<br />

Define good car.</p></blockquote>

You sound like an examiner at the viva. Lol

[The Don]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="The Don" data-cid="273996" data-time="1425988644"><p>

<br />

Define good car.</p></blockquote>

You sound like an examiner at the viva. Lol

Well the definition is important.

Whats a good car to me might not be a good car to you.

[JFLanka]

Define good car.

i wanted to know the aspects like reliability, fuel efficiency and comfort..

[luckey007]

Reason No. 7 in favour of Alto: If you have an accident, death will be quicker.

Will you think kelisa is far superior tham alto in crash rating?

[Clark's son]

Define good car.

A car that is ON FIRE

[The Don]

i wanted to know the aspects like reliability, fuel efficiency and comfort..

Fuel efficiency is important, but I can honestly say its over rated. What you should concern yourself is total cost of ownership which is basically

Fuel costs + Regular servicing costs + Repair costs + Cost of inconvenience when the vehicle is broken down

And you need to add to this a weighting of your chosing on what type of driving will you do in this car (to be honest the chance of dying in a high speed accident is low in city traffic conditions for obvious reasons, but if you take the A roads out of town and the motor way this is a consideration) and who else will go with you (I'm sure you consider the life of your family to be imeassurable)

So first and foremost is reliabilty. To be honest Alto engines seem to keep up ok, but its the things attached with prove to be problamatic. And by that I mean clutch, brakes, exhaust etc. Expect to replace these a lot earlier than a comparable vehicle made in Japan (or for that matter Perouda who use Japanese parts for engine and running gear). But parts are cheap and anybody can fix them (you don't need specialists) and some even swap out the Indian parts for Japanese.

But even brand new Altos after a year of bouncing around will start to show its age. Don't take my word for it, look at a few on the roads, and check things like bumper (colour) interior plastics (colour, evidence of UV damage), seats, and if you know somebody who owns one open and close the doors.

Comfort: Well you should drive one and check it out. Equipped with Indian rough road suspension its pretty hard and a little bit bouncy. Its not the end of the world but comfort is a relative factor.

Now compare it to a Kelissa, you will find similar issues with the interior as its Malaysian made and will show its age. But exterior, running gear and engine will be in far better shape for age and mileage.

With these things its a lot better to go out there and check these facts out for yourself.

Fuel efficiency, well when you add everything up, fuel efficiency is around the same for similar sized vehicles. In fact I'm willing to bet in manual form the Daihatsu engine will do slightly better.

Edited March 10, 2015 by The Don

[Crosswind]

Will you think kelisa is far superior tham alto in crash rating?

Crash rating is only one aspect of safety. Stability, handling, braking matters too. Kelisa is far superior in all those areas against the alto.

Btw recently there was an NCAP assessment for indian made cars. All the small indian-made hatches, including alto, datsun go, celery-o, ford figo, hyundai i10 etc failed miserably in that. Only vehicle that scraped thru was volkwagen polo.

[Hoonigan]

Crash rating is only one aspect of safety. Stability, handling, braking matters too. Kelisa is far superior in all those areas against the alto. Btw recently there was an NCAP assessment for indian made cars. All the small indian-made hatches, including alto, datsun go, celery-o, ford figo, hyundai i10 etc failed miserably in that. Only vehicle that scraped thru was volkwagen polo.

if I remember right, even the same car (for eg. the polo) manufactured in Europe fared better than the counterpart manufactured in India right? The less stringent safety regulations in India let manufacturers cut corners which leads to the whole perception that Indian cars aren't safe.

And also, buying a brand new car doesn't guarantee that it will run without a hitch for years. If the car is poorly built, you will spend an equally frustrating time sorting out warrenty claims with the agent when something faile prematurely.

[JFLanka]

Fuel efficiency is important, but I can honestly say its over rated. What you should concern yourself is total cost of ownership which is basically

Fuel costs + Regular servicing costs + Repair costs + Cost of inconvenience when the vehicle is broken down

And you need to add to this a weighting of your chosing on what type of driving will you do in this car (to be honest the chance of dying in a high speed accident is low in city traffic conditions for obvious reasons, but if you take the A roads out of town and the motor way this is a consideration) and who else will go with you (I'm sure you consider the life of your family to be imeassurable)

So first and foremost is reliabilty. To be honest Alto engines seem to keep up ok, but its the things attached with prove to be problamatic. And by that I mean clutch, brakes, exhaust etc. Expect to replace these a lot earlier than a comparable vehicle made in Japan (or for that matter Perouda who use Japanese parts for engine and running gear). But parts are cheap and anybody can fix them (you don't need specialists) and some even swap out the Indian parts for Japanese.

But even brand new Altos after a year of bouncing around will start to show its age. Don't take my word for it, look at a few on the roads, and check things like bumper (colour) interior plastics (colour, evidence of UV damage), seats, and if you know somebody who owns one open and close the doors.

Comfort: Well you should drive one and check it out. Equipped with Indian rough road suspension its pretty hard and a little bit bouncy. Its not the end of the world but comfort is a relative factor.

Now compare it to a Kelissa, you will find similar issues with the interior as its Malaysian made and will show its age. But exterior, running gear and engine will be in far better shape for age and mileage.

With these things its a lot better to go out there and check these facts out for yourself.

Fuel efficiency, well when you add everything up, fuel efficiency is around the same for similar sized vehicles. In fact I'm willing to bet in manual form the Daihatsu engine will do slightly better.

Thanks The Don for the explanation..here you have focused on Alto. Can you please explain the same about the Tata e-Xeta..??

[The Don]

Thanks The Don for the explanation..here you have focused on Alto. Can you please explain the same about the Tata e-Xeta..??

Sorry, not familiar with the model. Think its quite a new car, so difficult to comment about things like durability, reliability etc.

But the Indigo and Indica didn't fair that well though sold in numbers, particularly to the Government. You only need to see the numbers parked in the Nugegoda police park grounds ready for auction on how good they were. The Japanes cars over there with them are from the 1990s (some trad sunnies, a AE90 and a few ASP model Lancers).

[Clark's son]

Sorry, not familiar with the model. Think its quite a new car, so difficult to comment about things like durability, reliability etc.

But the Indigo and Indica didn't fair that well though sold in numbers, particularly to the Government. You only need to see the numbers parked in the Nugegoda police park grounds ready for auction on how good they were. The Japanes cars over there with them are from the 1990s (some trad sunnies, a AE90 and a few ASP model Lancers).

The e-Xeta is a Tata indigo,

[The Don]

The e-Xeta is a Tata indigo,

Well personally I'm not yet confident enough to buy Tata cars.

Tata is a bit of a weird company when it comes to automobiles. They seem to collaborate with multiple partners, so their technology is a bit of a masala dosa, and add to that they are developing their own indegenous technology. Originally a lot of their technology and designs came from Mercedes Benz, but since then they have collaborated with a number of partners including Renault (plus I assume they get something out of Jaguar Land Rover).

They are doing great things, but there is a lot of choice available, and the price differences in SL are not as bigger an incentive as India.

[JFLanka]

Thanks Don for the explanation..
Today I went to D*MO to see the e-Xeta.
They only had the sporty looking version which has some extra options and that was already sold so i couldn't test drive it.
From what i saw, the build quality of the dash board and door panels is not good and the driving position (steering height) is also not very comfortable.
doors make 'thud' sound when closing and the seats are not comfortable too..
but it looks nice compared to alto.
can't say about the ride because i didn't drive it.

[Zaffy]

Try to avoid the used accent as they were made on a budget and would not have aged well. I think a new Maruti will hold up better than an old accent (this doesn't apply to all Hyundai vehicles, just accent).

Also look at Japanese cars from the late 1990s early 2000s, though getting a lease might be a bit difficult. I do have a feeling though you can get a manual Viva Elite for about 1.4-1.5 million if you search for one with reasonable mileage. They would offer good fuel efficiency and decent reliability as the power train is Japanese.

As per this you don't recommend the Hyundai accent,

But, what about the Hyundai elantra? sounds a good car and looks decent as well. Any thoughts on this car, in terms of fuel efficiency, reliability and availability of spare parts and stuff?

[aps]

Alto is a good option:

Reasons:

1. You can buy brand new one.So leasing is bit cheaper/easier.

2.So don't need to afraid of being caught to a crook who disguise a bad car as a good car[One in the forum may say you are already got caught by buying an Alto]

3.Its high ground clearance will help to a new driver[and with a new car you will have lot of places to visit]

3.you can pump up 92 octane and has good fuel economy.

4.Minimum bells and whistles. So you will not have to repair them.

5.The most important thing to new driver is it has manual transmission. Otherwise you won't learn to drive a manual in your entire life.For you , you will never have that thrill of a driving manual. For others, you will too closely keep your vehicle behind a MT vehicle in an incline and honk madly if its wheels turn backwards few degrees.

6.Freely available and relatively cheap spare parts.

"you will never have that thrill of a driving manual" in Alto ?

pls tell more about it really like to hear,

Edited March 20, 2015 by aps

[The Don]

"you will never have that thrill of a driving manual" in Alto ?

pls tell more about it really like to hear,

I've heard this mentioned in the context of a Maruti 800. Good pick up, no brakes